This is a bad time to be hopeful. We are invaded daily by death graphs, coronavirus clusters and rising unemployment figures. We fret about surges and ICU capacity while studying transmission rates. We wonder about German labs, reagents and when they’ll have a damn antibody test. And that’s just what we do in our spare […]

6 years ago

When I told a friend of mine, my five-year-old son had been at Lord’s with me on Wednesday, he spent a moment marvelling at how wonderful it was for him to see Ireland bowl out England for 85. He then moved on to the central message he wanted to get across. “It’s very important, “ […]

7 years ago

On Morning Ireland last September, the presenter addressed the latest controversy surrounding Roy Keane and asked what may have seemed like a straightforward question: “How did we get to this point?” Keane was in the news because of the WhatsApp voice memo made by Stephen Ward detailing Keane’s row with Harry Arter and Jon Walters, […]

7 years ago

When Alex Ferguson announced his plans to retire as manager of Manchester United in 2001, a family intervention at Christmas persuaded him to change his mind. “In the kitchen a mutiny was brewing,” he wrote in his autobiography, published in 2013. The kitchen mutiny ensured that Manchester United was held together. In an interview he gave […]

7 years ago

Even the final frenzy offered little as Martin O’Neill watched helplessly from the sideline. As Wales defended one last corner, the crowd cheered as Darren Randolph came forward in search of an equaliser. But, as with so much in this faltering Ireland team, the attempt was rushed, slipshod and ineffective. Harry Arter-who had given away […]

7 years ago

If Ireland are looking for a new rallying cry, they might be tempted by, ‘It could have been worse.’ This was a game of all-encompassing mediocrity. Ireland were inept, toothless and played without ambition. Martin O’Neill will probably take it. At the end, Ireland furiously attacked as if the win was something that was always […]

7 years ago

Naturally there was a Brian Clough anecdote to explain it. When Martin O’Neill outlined the situation with Harry Arter at his press conference on Monday, he was able to call on memories from his time at Nottingham Forest to make sense of it all. “I did tell Harry that if he was having a fall-out […]

7 years ago

One night in the summer of 2002, Damien Duff came home after a night out and started to cry. Duff had returned from the World Cup as a star, but stardom was never the point. “People say fame has its benefits,” he says, sounding doubtful about the proposition. “You can get into restaurants or tickets […]

8 years ago

In April 2010, Liverpool’s then chairman Martin Broughton offered what were reported as “detailed reassurances” to the Premier League. The reassurances did not concern the club’s disciplinary record or some other everyday football matter. The detailed reassurances the Premier League sought concerned the club’s future. The Premier League wanted guarantees that the club could fulfil […]

8 years ago

Klopp’s side are favourites to reach the final. They will travel to Roma confident they can score, but accompanied by a familiar feeling of anxiety.

8 years ago

When my son was born, I was sure I wouldn’t push him towards football. I knew I wouldn’t push him towards anything, but sometimes I thought he might even be better off without all the clutter that football brings. He would be better off without obsessing over the fitness of a full back, better off […]

8 years ago

For 45 minutes, Manchester City were merciless. Pep Guardiola had reverted to first principles at the Etihad, essentially selecting a team of midfielders, with Kompany and Aguero left out. In doing so, he ensured Liverpool would suffer, not through the aggression of Kompany or the goals of Aguero, but through the endless, sadistic movement of […]

8 years ago

If Jose Mourinho is allowed to continue what must be called his rebuilding at Manchester United in the summer, it will be evidence, not of patience at Old Trafford, but of panic. Since Alex Ferguson retired, Manchester United have led a life of quiet desperation, coming to terms with the reality that one man’s authority, […]

8 years ago

At the end of rivalry weekend, Jamie Carragher’s explosion of rage and spit seemed to demonstrate that sometimes hostility isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Carragher has spent the time since the story broke in a whirlwind of apologies which never seemed less than genuine. He apologised to the family who he had spat […]

8 years ago

At the beginning of Jose Mourinho’s final season at Chelsea, he threatened to walk out of one press conference if there was another question about Eva Carneiro, who had been criticised by the manager after their opening game of the season the week before. Mourinho lingered at the door as he went to walk out, […]

8 years ago

When Wes Hoolahan was left out for Ireland, it wasn’t unusual to hear those who supported – or at least understood – the decision pointing out that it wasn’t just Martin O’Neill who had reservations about using him in certain games. They would highlight the long list of club managers who might have had similar […]

8 years ago

The idea that a sportsperson is talking to the fans when they speak to journalists is a line often peddled by the media, but it doesn’t have much validity. For one thing social media has told us that fans don’t really appreciate many of the questions journalists ask when they are talking to sportspeople, supposedly […]

8 years ago

It would be more convenient for everybody if Gerbrandt Grobler was simply a cheat. It would be more convenient for those who insist that rugby doesn’t have a doping problem if Gerbrandt Grobler could be dismissed as a devious and cunning fraud who was acting alone and what the hell was he thinking? It would […]

8 years ago

Many people will have been underwhelmed by the reports on Wednesday night that Martin O’Neill was about to take over as Stoke City’s manager. Many of the same people will also have been underwhelmed by the reports on Thursday night that Martin O’Neill was about to stay on as Ireland’s manager. For a man who […]

8 years ago

Ireland have had many unforgettable nights under Martin O’Neill and Ireland’s manager likes to make sure nobody forgets them. On Tuesday night, he mentioned once again how Ireland had beaten Germany in 2015. There have been other great nights in Lille, Vienna and Cardiff which O’Neill can rightly hail as highpoints, not just of his […]

8 years ago

For 29 minutes here at the Aviva, Ireland played as if they were completely relaxed about their destiny which at stage seemed to involve taking part in next summer’s World Cup. They appeared to be entirely comfortable with the early lead, a condition with which no Ireland team – or no Irish person – is […]

8 years ago

There was a moment during Martin O’Neill’s press conference at Abbotstown on Monday when Ireland’s manager was asked if his side were physically and emotionally ready for another big game three days after Saturday’s. O’Neill said they were used to this turnaround by now before moving on to other matters. Later on Monday, Age Hareide […]

8 years ago

When Ireland began the game in Copenhagen with a brief spell of passing, it seemed as if there might be a radical departure from their standard approach to any kind of football match. Perhaps Martin O’Neill felt with the World Cup as a prize, it was time to change the approach. However, after about 90 […]

8 years ago

During Giovanni Trapattoni’s time as Ireland’s manager, he interrupted one training session to summon a player to the sideline. Trapattoni wouldn’t keep him long. He had a simple question and then this Irish international could get back to training. “Who are you?” Trap is said to have asked. Trapattoni monitored Ireland’s players by watching them […]

8 years ago

When Vladimir Putin decided not to travel to Zurich in the days before FIFA announced the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, England, who were also in contention for the 2018 tournament, became excited. Putin knew Russia had lost to a superior bid, they said. England had this whole thing sown up and […]

8 years ago

Outside the Cardiff City Stadium late on Monday night, a number of men were resting against the railings beside the car park talking through all that had happened with a few witnesses to the evening’s events. The men resting on the railings were a few of Ireland’s players, spent and stunned, after an astonishing night […]

8 years ago

You think you know a team. You think the team you think you know are meandering towards an inevitable and disappointing end to a campaign after a drab 2017. And then something magical happens – a goal which represented the best of Martin O’Neill’s Ireland took the side to a World Cup play-off in November […]

8 years ago

It was only Moldova, but then, these days, Ireland are often only Ireland. After the results in September, the win in the Aviva was the only thing that mattered to Martin O’Neill’s side, but the energy and drive of his team in the first half would have given him heart before Monday’s game in Cardiff. […]

8 years ago

The father of Conrad Black, the former newspaper publisher and prisoner, gave his son some advice on his deathbed. “Life is hell,” he told him, “most people are bastards and everything is bullshit.” If this message was delivered to professional sportspeople, it would be difficult to see Roy Keane disagreeing. Football for him is a […]

8 years ago

“This was a hard lesson today”

9 years ago

Liverpool had already hinted at familiar vulnerabilities

9 years ago

Martin O’Neill likes to point out there were times when he was alone in believing in this Ireland team. He often recalls that after Scotland had come to Dublin and picked up a point in June 2015, few except O’Neill, Roy Keane and his players believed that Ireland would qualify for the European Championships. That […]

9 years ago

Since Ireland’s disappointing draw against Georgia last Saturday night, it has been hard to detect Martin O’Neill’s famed motivational skills. Certainly they weren’t deployed in his irritable interview with RTE’s Tony O’Donoghue after that game. That encounter wouldn’t have inspired much confidence in the general public, while his comments on Monday that this side were […]

9 years ago

Before Ireland had even finished playing in Tbilisi on Saturday, it had already been widely agreed that this was one of the worst Irish performances of recent times. Nobody could argue that the 1-1 draw was anything but terrible, but the idea that this was a deviation from the norm seemed to be its own […]

9 years ago

The Philippe Coutinho saga is the real evidence of Liverpool’s status

9 years ago

Ten minutes before the game began, the banks of the Lee had been surrendered to the latecomers and the bewildered. “We used to park up by Cork Con, but we haven’t been here since the ’90s so we didn’t want to risk it,” one Clare supporter said as we took the scenic walk from the […]

9 years ago

On Thursday, I was having lunch in restaurant close to our offices when a man sitting across from me at the large communal table starting talking to someone he recognised about Ireland’s recent one-day match against England at Lord’s. He said how much he had enjoyed being there and what a wonderful day it had […]

9 years ago

Among the VIPs at the Aviva on Sunday was the UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. This might have come as some consolation for those watching who would have been relieved to know that the top man was there to witness their pain and, if necessary, to take action on their […]

9 years ago

For 84 minutes, everyone who was watching Ireland struggle against Austria knew what was wrong. As they chased the game following Martin Hinteregger’s first half goal, Martin O’Neill’s side needed to play a bit more football. Actually, any football would do. But it turned out, everyone was wrong. What Ireland needed to do was to […]

9 years ago

As people waited in Cardiff on Saturday night for Zinedine Zidane to arrive at the post-match press conference to explain how easy it is to win European Cups, Florentino Perez was giving a radio interview anticipating another Champions League victory. “Now we move on to the next one, Real Madrid is like that,” he said. […]

9 years ago

In the astonishing opening to this incredible final, Real Madrid had seemed liked a bewildered bystander. Juventus had begun with a purpose which suggested that all the lost finals and all those regrets would be forgotten. Cristiano Ronaldo was appealing to the referee for fouls, but he looked like a man who lived under a […]

9 years ago

Breaking the chains of the past

9 years ago

The role which tends to bring Jose Mourinho greatest joy these days is the destroyer of other people’s dreams. Nothing energises him like the prospect of beating, say, Liverpool, as he did at Anfield in 2014, or Antonio Conte’s Chelsea at Old Trafford. On these occasions, Mourinho rejoices as he proves once again that anyone […]

9 years ago

We must sympathise with Eamon Dunphy at this difficult time as various colleagues on RTE failed to the grasp the nuance of his philosophical lament on the fading of Lionel Messi. We must sympathise too with Dunphy’s RTE colleagues at this difficult time. They might have heard Dunphy describe the Messi we love as a […]

9 years ago

Jerry Flannery, telling it like it is

9 years ago

It was reported on Tuesday that Iceland experienced a baby boom nine months after they beat England at last summer’s European Championships. If the same happens nine months on from this game, it will be because a record number of couples decided there were better ways to spend their evening. The selling point for this […]

9 years ago

“Are you saying all the bad challenges were from us?” Chris Coleman asked afterwards. The Wales manager was holding his ground and defending his players in a combative press conference, but nobody could answer with a defiant, “Yes!”. There were a lot of angry Irish voices in the press room but nobody could stand up […]

9 years ago

Ireland has mythologised it now. Roy Keane’s early tackle on Marc Overmars has become part of folklore, a glorious moment in the nation’s history. If England is always trying to live up to 1966 and if the Dutch must remain true to the code of Cruyff and Rinus Michels, Ireland demands a reducer. In the […]

9 years ago

Jeff Hendrick is determined to make it to Russia next year

9 years ago

Some people seemed to get upset that Owen – a former Real Madrid player – was celebrating a Barcelona victory, but that was entirely unimportant

9 years ago